How tall does corn grow?

Answer 1

According to the musical "Oklahoma" in 'Oh what a beautiful morning', "The corn is as high as an elephant's eye, An' it looks like its climbin' clear up to the sky."

Some types of sweet corn are as short as 4ft. Other types such as field corn can get as tall as 12ft under good conditions. I have heard of corn that grows as tall as 16 feet, but that is specially grown for record height.

There are many varieties (thousands of different types) of corn. Really, your question is like asking "how big does a dog get" and the answer could be a Great Dane or a Chihuahua.

Some kinds of corn are short, even 2-3 feet at maturity. Most corn used as grain is in the 6-8 foot range with some getting to 10-12 feet with varying amounts of fertilizer, sunlight, water, and temperature during the growing season.

Many kinds of corn grown for ensilage or silage (where the whole stalk is used, not just the grain ear) are routinely 14-16 or even 18 feet tall because the intent is to have more mass to use as fodder (think of it like really big hay)

Some tropical varieties from Mexico and Peru, like Jala Maize, will easily grow to 20 feet by themselves, taller if they are given special care for competitive "tall corn" contests.

Don Radda from Iowa won the State Fair tall corn contest every year from the 1930's to the 1960's. His tallest is a world record at over 30 feet tall.